Classical Guitar Magazine22

THE KOBLENZInternational Guitar

Academy’s LifetimeAchievement Award was anadded bonus event amongthe many other specialperformances at the 22nd

Koblenz International GuitarFestival & Academy, held from2–9 June 2014 in Koblenz,Germany. There were at least twoconcert performances each daypresenting the top internationalguitarists, as well as some veryfine young players, who will be thestars of the future. The KoblenzInternational Guitar Competition‘Hubert Käppel’ is an annual com-petition that takes place duringthe festival and attracts partici-pants from all over the world. Jazzhas always been a respected styleat the festival and this year thefestival presented FrankHaunschild Trio with the youngUkrainian jazz guitarist, VitaliyZolotov. The Junior GuitarAcademy were in full force againover the Pentecost holiday week-end, hopefully with some morestars of the future in there as well.

The Koblenz International GuitarAcademy awarded LifetimeAchievement Awards to JohnD’Addario jnr, Vice Chairman ofD’Addario & Company, on behalf ofhimself, the D’Addario Foundation,and D’Addario & Company, Inc. andBernard Maillot, Chef d’enterpriseof Savarez sa, on behalf himself and

Savarez. Both of these string com-panies were begun by a previousgeneration, and both companies arebeing run by future generations.The Award ceremony took place atthe Kurfürstliches Schloss onMonday 9 June 2014. As JohnD’Addario jnr and Bernard Maillotentered, the young guitarists of theKoblenz Junior Academy held theirguitars high in the air forming a‘guard of honour’. The brass quartetof the Musikschule der StadtKoblenz played the opening musicfollowed by the speeches given byDorothea Buchwald on behalf of theCity of Koblenz, Dr. Richard Koch-Sembdner, President of the Koblenz

International Guitar Society, GünterF. C. Forsteneichner of the KoblenzInternational Guitar Academy andthe Laudatio for John D'Addariojnr was given by Prof. Dr. WilliNieratschker of the HochschuleKoblenz, the University of AppliedScience, and the Laudatio forBernard Maillot was given byGünter F. C. Forsteneichner. AlvaroPierri played three sets of musicduring the ceremony and we wereall curious to know which stringshe was using: D’Addario or

KOBLENZ FESTIVAL & LIFETIMEACHIEVEMENT AWARDSA Report by THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA

Pepe Romero, David Russell and Manuel Barrueco.

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Alvaro Pierri performing at the Lifetime Achievement

Award ceremony.

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John D’Addario jnr and Bernard Maillot arrive with the Junior Guitar Academy guard of honour.

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Savarez?! He began by telling astory about how guitarists arealways discussing whether they areplaying a cedar guitar or a spruceguitar; and then whether they areusing D’Addario or Savarezstrings. He brought two guitars onstage, but then explained that eachof the guitars had a mixed combi-nation of both D’Addario andSavarez strings.

This is only the third time theAcademy has given the LifetimeAchievement Award; previously itwas awarded to Pepe Romero andCelin Romero, on behalf of thewhole Romero family and toKonrad Ragossnig.

Marcin Dylla gave an excellentopening night concert featuring TheSonata of Loneliness by PeterisVasks (born 1946) as well as superbperformances of Ponce’s ThemeVariations and Fugue on ‘La Folia’and works by Diabelli, Schubert andMagnus Lindberg. The KoblenzFestival concerts reliably have ahigh level of musicianship and Inoticed the students at the festivalwere still talking about MarcinDylla’s fine performance a few dayslater. Needless to say this level con-tinued with Pavel Steidl on the nextevening playing Mertz, Coste andalternating between pieces by LeosJanacek and Jana Obrovska to stim-ulate our musical imagination tocompare these works. ManuelBarrueco performed works by Bach,Piazzolla which he has transcribedfor guitar trio and also a piece by

Chen Yi called China West Suite.He performed with the BeijingGuitar Duo in a concert co-present-ed by the Koblenz Guitar Festivaland the KoblenzerKammerkonzerte, a chamber musicsociety which was established in1872. Manuel Barrueco also gavean unforgettable solo performanceof Turina’s Sonata. The evening con-certs continued with David Russellplaying Sor, Bach and his new tran-scription of Sonata in B flat majorby Vivaldi, which he transcribedespecially for the audience of theKoblenz Festival; and they appreci-ated it very much. He also playedtwo pieces dedicated to him:Jubilosa Plenitud by Juan Sarrochaand Sonatina by Jorge Morel. PepeRomero produced a wonderful tonequality which filled the hall in his

solo evening recital, playing piecesby Milan, Mudarra, Giuliani, hisfather Celedonio Romero, Rodrigo,Falla, Torroba, Turina and Tárrega.Understated, beautiful, a benchmarkperformance, wonderful, very per-sonal – my jotted down notes read...To be able to hear all of these topguitarists in the one week is reallylike a wonderful dream! What ismore, they offered food for the soul.

As well as enjoying the high quali-ty of the evening concerts, this yearI found that the daily 5pm series ofrecitals were equally inspiring. Inthe smaller concert room of theRhein-Mosel Halle which has ceilingto floor windows looking out ontothe Rhein river and the beautifulgreen trees on its banks, one couldhear the stars of the future, youngperformers, full of musical ideas andvery impressive techniques whichallowed them to express themselvesfully on their instruments. Anyoneconcerned about the future of theguitar, should have attended the5pm series at the Koblenz Festival!

The Bulgarian guitarist DavidDyakov (born 1994) won FirstPrize at the Koblenz InternationalGuitar Competition ‘HubertKäppel’ in 2011. Part of that prizewas to make a recording. The titleof that recording (with KSGExaudio) was Il Diabolico – herecorded J. S. Bach’s Partita No. 2in D minor, BWV 1004 and ofcourse, five of Paganini’s Caprices.Paganini was known as ‘IlDiabolico’ because of his phenome-nal technique, but watching DavidDyakov perform, with his relaxedand virtuosic technique on the

David Dyakov in concert.

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Sabrina Vlaskalic in concert.

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Aniello Desiderio performing with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, conducted by David Danzmayr.

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instrument, one can see that DavidDyakov might have a link not onlywith Paganini’s music but also withthe spirit of Paganini. In thisKoblenz concert he played theAntonio José Sonata, threePaganini Caprices, and Evocationby Curtis Curtis-Smith.

The Serbian guitarist SabrinaVlaskalic gave the next 5pm con-cert and it was just as full of musi-cal ideas and played with excellenttechnique. All the repertoire sheplayed was special but her perfor-mance of Dusan Bogdanovic’s SixBalkan Miniatures was played as Ihave never heard it before: shereally brought out the folk musicinspiration of these pieces so well.Alberto Ginastera’s Sonata, Op. 47is often on young guitarists’ concertprogrammes these days, but it’s

musical content is not always fullyunderstood. However, SabrinaVlaskalic understood everything inGinastera’s music and she played itbrilliantly. Both the Bogdanovic andthe Ginastera required percussionon the guitar; some guitarists gocarefully here in order to not dam-age their guitars but not SabrinaVlaskalic – for her the music comesfirst and the guitar comes second –this produced an extra element ofexcitement in her performance. Sheis a very passionate player and, likeDavid Dyakov, is an absolute plea-sure to listen to.

The Montenegrin guitarist GoranKrivokapic is always excellent andhe always changes the publishedprogramme. We were fortunate tohear his interpretation of Bach’sSonata No. 2, BWV 1003. In his

lecture/recital Alexander-SergeiRamirez told us of the rediscoveryof the music of the Peruvian com-poser Pedro Ximenez de Abrill yTirado (1780–1857) who wrote119 guitar pieces, works for celloand guitar and two Divertimenti forguitar and ensemble. Alexander-Sergei Ramirez played a selectionof these attractive pieces. He hasmade a recording of these pieces onGuitarra Clasica del Peru, and hasalso edited 100 Minuetos for GuitarSolo by Pedro Ximenez de Abrill,published by Edition Chanterelle imAllegra Musikverlag.

Chai-Wei Lin from Taiwan, whowon First Prize at the 2013Koblenz International GuitarCompetition ‘Hubert Käppel’played a recital in the 5pm series;he gave an excellent performanceof Bach’s Sonata BWV 1005, aswell as playing some Chinesepieces which will appear on hisnew recording.

The ‘Friday Night for Guitar &Orchestra’ concert featured theItalian guitarist, Aniello Desiderio,performing with theStaatsorchester RheinischePhilharmonie, conducted by DavidDanzmayr at the Rhein-MoselHalle. They played Fantasia para unGentilhombre by Joaquin Rodrigoand Concierto para guitarra No. 2de Lieja (1981) by Leo Brouwer. Asresponses of the audiences of theclassical music world have proven,one can never hear the Rodrigo

Jury of the Koblenz International Guitar Competition ‘Hubert Käppel’.

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John D’Addario jnr and Bernard Maillot receive their Lifetime Achievement Awards

from Prof. Ingeborg Henzler.P

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Wolfgang Dey and Hubert Käppel.

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concertos too often, but it wasenlightening to hear a large-scalework by Leo Brouwer, particularlyas we are so often playing his solorepertoire on the guitar. Both workswere very exciting to listen to; for-tunately, Aniello Desiderio has themusical and technical strength toperform two concertos in oneevening, and very well at that. Thisconcert was presented in collabora-tion with Musik-Institut-Koblenz,which was founded in 1808.

On Saturday 7 June, the concertprogramme was very full, startingwith a lecture/recital by GerhardReichenbach about transcribingBach for the guitar. So many of usfeel strongly about Bach and it wasgood to listen to GerhardReichenbach articulate his reasons.He played us two partitas for key-board which he has transcribed:Partita No. 3, BWV 827 andPartita No. 1, BWV 825. The duoof Wolfgang Dey on various sizedrecorders and Hubert Käppel on theguitar gave a fine lunchtime perfor-mance in the Florinskirche, one ofthe old churches in central Koblenz,which was absolutely full. ZoranDukic played the 5pm concert, per-forming a Sonata by VojislavIvanovic which was written 20years ago but only published byChanterelle last year. Of course hisinterpretation of Six BalkanMiniatures by Dusan Bogdanovicwas very good but also it was com-pletely different to the performanceearlier in the week by SabrinaVlaskalic; that was instructive. At6.30pm the Peruvian guitaristJorge Caballero played some move-ments from Yamashita’s arrange-ment of Pictures at an Exhibition

by Mussorgsky. It is some yearssince the Japanese guitaristshocked and surprised the guitarworld by transcribing and perform-ing this tour de force on the guitar.Not many a brave guitarist hastrodden down that same path untilnow, so it was really something tohear live. Jorge Caballero alsoplayed some pieces by Albéniz. Thevery full day ended with the excel-lent solo recital by Pepe Romero.

The Sunday night jazz concert,featuring the Frank Haunschild Trio,was held in the open-air stage ofthe fortress in Ehrenbreitstein,alongside the Rhein river.Performing with the FrankHaunschild Trio was the youngUkrainian jazz guitarist, VitaliyZolotov, who stepped in as unfortu-nately, Philip Catherine had fallenill. The guitarists Haunschild andZolotov understood each other verywell and their musical exchangeswere an absolute pleasure to listento. This concert was presented incollaboration with the Jazz Club

Koblenz and Café Hahn. Another important event at this

year’s festival was the D’Addariolaunch of their new Pro-ArteCarbon strings and their updatedstring packaging on Friday 6 June2014 in the Rhein-Mosel-Halle.John D’Addario jnr, Vice Chairmanof D’Addario & Company, wasthere for the launch, which was acelebration for the students andartists, with drinks and cocktailsand many sets of strings beinggiven away.

There was a continuous timetableof masterclasses throughout the fes-tival. The featured public master-classes were given by David Russell,Manuel Barrueco, Alvaro Pierri,Marcin Dylla. At the same timethere were masterclasses given byHubert Käppel, Costas Cotsiolis,Tadashi Sasaki, Jorge Caballero,Pavel Steidl, Judicaël Perroy,Gerhard Reichenbach, GoranKrivokapic, Thomas Offermann andthe Beijing Guitar Duo – anabsolute feast of inspiration. The

Frank Haunschild Trio and Vitaliy Zolotov at Festung Ehrenbreitstein.

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Günter Schillings rehearsing with the ensemble of the Junior Guitar Academy.

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Junior Guitar Academy for youngguitarists ran over the longPentecost holiday weekend. Theyworked on Bach’s Jesu, Joy ofMan’s Desiring, with their teachersGünter Schillings, Russell Poynerand Matthew Peters.

A Catholic Mass was held at theCity-Kirche, the Jesuit church in thecobble-stoned Jesuiten Platz to cel-ebrate the feast of Pentecost. Afour-voice ensemble with soprano(Kirsten Maxeiner), alto (AlmutNieratschker), tenor (ThomasKaiser) and bass (WilliNieratschker, who also played theorgan) sung as the children’s guitarensemble of the Junior GuitarAcademy, conducted by GünterSchillings, played his arrangementsof Im Balladenton from LyricPieces, Op. 65 by Edvard Grieg andBach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.Russell Poyner sang the GregorianCredo unaccompanied. Guitar soloswere performed by SabrinaVlaskavic, Alexander-SergeiRamirez, David Russell, JudicaëlPerroy Gerhard Reichenbach, theduo of Aniello Desiderio and LucioMatarazzo and the duo of RussellPoyner and Monika Dawidek(oboe). The money collected fromthis Mass service will go to the‘ONGD David Russell y María Jesús’to build water wells in Africa.

The Finals of the KoblenzInternational Guitar Competition‘Hubert Käppel’ 2014 were held atthe Kurfürstliches Schloß onSunday 8 June 2014. There were

five finalists: Clovis Dethier(France), Vojin Kocic (Serbia),Jérémy Peret (France), Jinsae Kim(Korea) and Eren Süalp (Turkey).The competition winners were:First Prize: not awarded; SecondPrize: ex aequo to Eren Süalp(Turkey) and Vojin Kocic (Serbia);and Third Prize: Jinsae Kim(Korea). The Premio JoaquínRodrigo for the best interpretationof a work by Joaquín Rodrigo wasawarded to Vojin Kocic (Serbia).The international jury was headedby Prof. Lucio Matarazzo, withProf. Hubert Käppel, Prof. AlfredEickholt, Prof. Tadashi Sasaki, Prof.Judicaël Perroy, Prof. GerhardReichenbach, Prof. Dr. ThomasOffermann, Prof. Costas Cotsiolis,Sabrina Vlaskalic, Max Op denCamp and Thérèse Wassily Saba.

The Prize-winners concert, whichis the final concert of the festival,on the Monday evening, was verywell attended as always. Theorchestra of the Junior GuitarAcademy performed again with thefour singers. The three prize win-ners: Eren Süalp, Vojin Kocic andJinsae Kim gave good perfor-mances, which left everyone happyafter a full week of excellentmusic.

There were many guitar makersexhibiting their instruments in the

bright and airy foyer of the Rhein-Mosel-Halle, including: AntoniusMüller, Gert Petersen, Kazuo Sato,Mario Gropp, Daryl Perry, MichaelWichmann, Robert Gose, JoséRamírez, Serge Drijakoff, StefanNitschke, Alessandro Marseglia,Francesco Pignataro, Pete Beer,Dennis Tolz, Gérard Aurdirac,Christian Koehn, Franz Butscher,Jens Towet, Friedericke Linscheid,Stephan Schlemper, the guitar casemaker Zlatko Parlov and MusikThilemann.

It was a pleasure to catch up withMichael Macmeeken – although hesold his Chanterelle guitar festivalshop to Octavian Badea ofGuitarrisimo, he continues to travel tothe festivals with Octavian Badea toassist him. Michael Macmeeken’sEdition Chanterelle im AllegraMusikverlag is continuing to publishsome invaluable new and old butunpublished repertoire. Other specialexhibitors at the festival wereBernard Maillot of Savarez and Prof.Dr. Thomas Offermann of D’Addario;the whole festival is best summarisedin Pepe Romero's words: 'The per-sonal interchange, the masterclasses,the concerts, the special feeling ofbrotherhood in which the competitiontakes place, all provide an environ-ment for true love to be experiencedthrough the guitar.'

The Festival & Academy website is at: www.koblenzguitarfestival.deThe Festival Blog is at: http://Koblenzguitarfestival.wordpress.comThe Twitter address is: @koblenzguitfest

(From left) Günter Forsteneichner, Vojin Kocic, Eren Süalp, Jinsae Kim, Lucio Matarazzo, John D’Addario jnr, Bernard Maillot.

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